Happy Birthday
by IgneousNight
Summary: The start of a beautiful relationship between Chelsea and Vaughn
1. Chapter 1

***DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS***

***ENJOY***

**Happy Birthday**

She leaned over the counter, beaming with her sea blue eyes. She cocked her head to the side and giggled. The mysterious cowboy glances up from his clipboard at her and then back down with a heavy sigh. The girl blushes and pulls out a purple box with a red bow on the top out of her rucksack. She places it on the edge of the counter near the cowboy. He looks up again at her and glares.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" His deep velvet voice flowed over the words spoken.

"Happy birthday Vaughn!"

His gave a shocked look. He picked up the package with a gloved hand and stared at it. His heart started to race and pound louder and louder. The box felt light in his hands. He solemnly tipped his hat to her, pursing his lips.

"Go ahead and open it. I hope you like it…" The girl fiddled with her fingers, looking around the room. Vaughn gently pulled the bow and unraveled the box. His breathing stopped for a second as he spotted the white cloth folded comfortably. The girl smiled at his expression.

"Chelsea… You… You shouldn't have… I mean… Thank you… But why?" Vaughn's voice was more thankful than harsh. He furrowed his eyebrows and locked his jaw.

"Well, I thought that you needed a new bandana… that one was getting torn and such… I hope you like this one…" Chelsea wouldn't look directly into his eyes. She was blushing so much, she wanted to hide her face.

He set the box down and reached behind his neck. He fiddled with the knot and undid the bandana. Chelsea was right, the bandana was falling apart. It had stains from Goddess knows what, and was practically hanging by a thread. Vaughn scoffed at the site of his deteriorating treasure and shook his head. He grabbed the new one and put it on. His purple eyes just stared at the blushing girl. She looked back at him and gasped.

"So you like it?!"

"Of course, thank you. This means a lot to me."

Since then Vaughn and Chelsea seemed to grow closer and closer. They started sharing secrets together, and memories from their childhood. Every Monday and Thursday, she would wake up early just to make him porridge and bother him at work. Her goal was to make that mysterious cowboy smile. She wanted to see him happy, and sadly… that was the only thing really keeping her at those quiet Sunshine Islands…


	2. Chapter 2

**Slap In The Face**

She shot up right in her bed, clutching her chest. Her heart beat vigorously to the rhythm of the pouring rain outside. She lays slowly back down on her bed. Her seas stared at the ceiling, with waves crashing over the barriers. Her dreams plagued her with memories of her parents.

A young child should not see the man that supposed to protect her, in so much pain. A young child should not see her own mother scream in pain. She shouldn't have to watch her parents die. Those memories were the painful ones. The ones where her brother would break in her room and hold her until she would fall back asleep from emotional exhaustion.

Now she has no one to do that for her. Mark was in Mineral Town doing his own thing. She needed him though… or someone at least. Sunny Island wasn't making her dreams come true. She wanted to be like her mom. Become a great rancher, meet her true love, raise a family… It hasn't come true at all. Chelsea closed her eyes once more and drifted off.

He awoke to the sound of the rain pounding it's way through town. He sat up, groaning from the soreness of his back. He went to stand up, but only to slip on the white bandana he had received last spring. He cursed, reaching for his bed, slipping again on the bandana.

"Damn it! Did she curse this thing?!" He clutched the bandana in his hand, glancing the secret embroidering on the tip of it. He never noticed that it had a "V" elegantly planted on it until now. He never realized that he had been wearing it backwards until now. "Tricky girl… very tricky…" he mumbled as he started to get dressed.

He sighed and put his cowboy hat on and opened the door. A blonde haired girl jumped up and yelped in surprise. Vaughn kept his cool, emotionless face as the girl stood there, breathing heavily and clutching her chest. She looked like your typical blonde cowgirl, just without the hat.

Her blue eye's glared at him viciously. "Damn you Vaughn, you just about gave me a heart attack!"

"You're too young to have one of those." He remarked.

"Shuddup cousin. How 'bout you go make yer self a little bit nicer to look at. No smart girl wants a brooding creepy cowboy." She stuck her tongue at him.

"That's enough you two. I swear you two act like little kids. Bickering and whatnot. C'mon on Vaughn, go check on the chickens, make sure there ain't no holes in the barn and feed the cows. After that you can do whatever ya want. You little missy need to watch over the shop while I go have my morning coffee with Felicia. Behave." A chubby older lady came through the door. Julia, her daughter looked like a thinner, younger version of her. Mirabelle was the jolly and kind ranch shop owner in the town. She raised her daughter and her nephew alone, making her strong willed.

Vaughn nodded in agreement and went to work. He fed the chickens and fixed a hole in the barn. He went back into the shop to record how much feed he had used. He walked in and shook the water off his hat and spotted a pink umbrella by the door. He looks towards the cash register and sees a black haired girl who is staring back at him.

"Oh, there you are. Hello Vaughn." She had a gentle face that was accented with a pair of spectacles. Her atmosphere was timid, yet proper. She dressed in a lacey dress with a fluffy jacket. Vaughn tipped his hat to her. She timidly walked towards him, stumbling over her own feet. "Uhm… Vaughn… I wanted to ask you if… if you would be willing to go… you know… to the Fireworks Festival? With me?" Her eyes lowed to the ground, blushing.

Vaughn stared at her and sighed. "Sure, why not." He didn't think much of what exactly the Fireworks Festival is about. He had been growing a nice relationship with Sabrina though so it didn't matter to him.

Sabrina gave a big smile and darted out of the store, almost running into another person. "Oh, I'm sorry… Chelsea…?"

Chelsea stood there with a puzzled look and an umbrella in her hand. She was confused to why Sabrina would be at a shop that sell animal supplies when her father is a gem dealer. Chelsea nodded towards her and squeezed by into the store. Chelsea waved at Vaughn and went towards Julia.

"Hey Jules, I need 3 bags of pet feed please."

"Sure, lettme just go get 'em." Julia walked off into the back room.

"How are you Vaughn?" Chelsea leaned against the counter in a provocative way. Vaughn looked at her, raising an eyebrow and brushing away his silver hair.

"Same as always Chels."

"So you goin' to the Fireworks Festival?" She fiddles with a piece of her brown hair, trying to be sly.

"Uh, yeah, I am actually. With Sabrina." He hung the clipboard back on the wall. He walked over to the counter and took off his hat.

Chelsea almost ripped her hair out. She stared at him with wide, shocked eyes. An acidy pain prickled her chest. She tried to speak but the words were stuck.

"You are…? D-do you like her…?" She wanted to bite her tongue. Stop herself from speaking anymore.

"Sure. She's a sweet girl. Very quite. She doesn't bother me." He seemed completely oblivious to her facial expression. Chelsea was wearing her pain on her face. She wanted to ask _him _to the festival but it seemed like someone had beaten her to it.

"Does she make you happy?" Chelsea locked her jaw and stared at the ground.

"Yeah. I feel comfortable around her. Its nice." His voice seemed to smoothen out and relax more.

Julia came back into the room and set the pet food on the counter. She looked between the two of them with a worried look. She cleared her throat to break the silence. "So that's 30 gold Chels."

"Oh… right thanks." She put 30 gold on the counter and grabbed the bags. "See ya later guys…"

She walked into the rain and put the pet food in her saddle bags. She turned towards the store taking in one more look, the rain soaking her to the bone. She jumped onto her horse San and road off, with the rain masking away her tears.


End file.
